Google‘s PhotoScan app will let you digitize old Photos

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There is one question that has been in many people’s minds since the dawn of digital photo technology. And this is what are we going to do with the old, paper printed photos? And how can we digitize them effectively? Well, now it seems like Google Photos might have finally found the answer to these problems. Their new PhotoScan app.

PhotoScan

PhotoScan actually works as a very good photo scanner. It will be available for Android and iPhone and it will reportedly make use of the phone’s camera. It will capture an old photo in four separate sections. Then, it will assemble them together creating some kind of a panorama shot. Also, according to Google, the app will make adjustments in the color, clarity and it will adjust the corners of the photo.

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You can always use a scanner to just scan your old photos but it will take time and the result will not be very satisfying. What PhotoScan does is make that process easier while eliminating any flaw in the photo. Everyone carries their memories in form of a photo somewhere in their phone. Now, even if that photo was taken 15 years ago, it will look almost as good as a newly taken one.

What is special about it?

All those smartphone scanning apps work on photos but they are mostly designed for documents. Which is simple to handle. But PhotoScan uses a little spark of augmented reality to make your photo look the best it can, on your phone. After stitching those four parts of the photo together, the app will detect any flaws and correct them. Also, it will get rid of the glare and straighten your photo. Long story short, it will also edit your photo so that when you will show it to your kids, they will actually distinguish something.

Google Photos

Once you scan your photo, you can either keep it in the memory of your phones, or upload it on Google Photos. From there, you will be able to share them or organize them. Google Photos can store unlimited photos but only with your permission. The app will not upload your scans directly into Google Photos. The service now also offers users a variety of editing features so that you can modify them by your liking.

The inspiration behind

Jingyu Cui, a software engineer with Google Photos said that what inspired Google to create this app is people’s need to store their memories easier. Think about all those huge photo albums which our parents are still keeping somewhere at home. And it would be time consuming to take each old photo and scan it with a professional scanner or to take a photo of a photo. Most of the time, this ends up looking horrible. So this is what PhotoScan does. It helps people with this situation, by making the whole process easier for them. It even edits them for you. What more can you ask?

PhotoScan will be available on Tuesday, for both Android and iPhone, for free.